1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to predictive visual analytic tools, and more particularly, to systems and methods for generating predictive models of spatiotemporal events.
2. Description of the Related Art
Visual analytic systems are commonly used in the art to provide analysts with the ability to study trends in various data using interactive visual interfaces. Moreover, visual analytic systems allow analysts to interactively explore the collection of any data through linked windows or views, temporal histories, document aggregations and numerous other displays. The linked views and interactive displays provide insight to otherwise substantially hidden correlations between space, time, events, people and places. Specifically, analysts can search for particular events of interest through statistical tools that are linked to the visual displays, so as to analyze the data at a deeper level and form hypotheses based upon the available information. Although currently existing visual analytic systems may allow analysts to generate some hypotheses with respect to future events, there is still much room for improvement.
As applied today, the primary use of analytic systems is purely reaction-based, or operates only in response to an event that has already occurred. More specifically, analytic systems are typically directed toward temporal alert generation, wherein an algorithm monitors for unexpected events and triggers an alert in response to an unexpected event that is detected by the algorithm. While this allows analysts to better respond to events and redistribute resources in an effort to minimize the effects of the events, these analytic systems are still unable to help analysts predict and deter such events. Furthermore, many of these analytic systems have been found to become intractable as the data set grows.
Some analytic systems exist for use in the realm of syndromic surveillance. Such systems include the Early Aberration Reporting System (EARS) and the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community based Epidemics (ESSENCE). Although these systems provide analysts with some means of monitoring events, data exploration and associated analytic capabilities offered by such systems are limited to reactive rather than proactive alerts. These systems are additionally known to generate too many false positives for epidemiologists to analyze.
Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods which provide comprehensive analyses of current and past events, but also provide more comprehensive predictions for future events. Moreover, there is a need for systems and methods which indicate regions of space and time with unusually high incidences of events or hotspots, predict the growth of such regions so as to plan resource allocation and preventative measures, and further, predict where future hotspots may occur. There is also a need for systems and methods that are able to process a collection of substantially large data sets efficiently and with greater degree of accuracy.